August 26, 2013

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Good news comes in a wonderful little package by the name of Drayson Vaughn Cline.¬† He arrived on the 23rd at 10:24 in the evening.¬† The good news came to many on the social network facebook via the young man‚Äôs proud aunt.¬† He is a popular guy already.¬† On one side of the family alone he has cousins:¬† Dakota and Dillon Watts, Foster and Kalyssa Wiseman, Eli and Emerson Rose Oglesby, and Taegan Krider.¬† There is another whole side of the family, the Clines, out there also very much excited about a newcomer.¬† In just a few minutes internet messages arrived from Cathie Alsup Reilly, Nadine Shaffer Smith, Leigh Ann Lewis, Katie Vivod, Candy Clark-Hibbitts, Emily Ash, Teresa Chapman-Stout, Anna Johnson, Barbara Brooke, Wilma Ash, Darcy Cecil, LaDonna Garrison, Wilda Moses, Steve Krider, Sherrill Ash, Christy Berry, and Kathy Krider.¬† By now, the Mother and Father are no doubt swimming in well wishes and their Champion friends and family are overjoyed for them and wish them every good fortune.¬† ‚ÄúMama rock a little, Papa rock a little too, gonna try to do a little sleeping maybe.¬† If it‚Äôs just for a moment or an hour or two, it‚Äôs entirely depending on the baby!‚ÄĚ¬† Champion!

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Birthdays continue to be a favorite subject particularly among those people having them.¬† Dakota Watts just had one, and Foster‚Äôs grandmother, Bernice Wiseman, just had one.¬† Kalyssa Wiseman and Jenna Brixey have one on Saturday.¬† They will both be six on the 31st.¬† That is the day of the Champion School Reunion in Champion and the Brixeys are having a family reunion over in Nixa, so everybody will be celebrating and having fun.¬† Skyline School teacher, Mrs. Gunter, celebrated on the 23rd and Crystal Sartor will have her special day on Thursday the 29th.¬† Skyline teachers will be enjoying the book fair starting the 29th.¬† It will last until September 9th.¬† They say there will be plenty of time to buy the newest books, including Grandparents day on the 6th.¬† Everyone is invited to stop in to see what is available.¬† Back to birthdays, years slip by more quickly it seems as people age.¬† The nature of the excitement over a birthday changes with age as well.¬† Expressions of Love and Gratitude are the order of every day for celebrating Champions. ‚ÄúHappy birthday!‚ÄĚ they shout, ‚ÄúWe are glad you could join us for another year!‚ÄĚ

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† The famed bear of Brushy Knob can be seen on the community events page at www.championnews.us.¬† It might be easy perhaps to be a little dismissive of what seems like the disproportionate fears of an otherwise solid, well-grounded citizen reporting having seen a bear in her yard.¬† Then the picture of the bear appears.¬† No wonder fear gripped the heart!¬† The folks at the Department of Conservation say to make a lot of noise when you are out if you suspect there is a bear in your area.¬† A couple of pot lids banging together can be as noisy as a shotgun and perhaps a little less dangerous.¬† Of course if a person goes in the house to get pot lids, chances are pretty good that the bear will not follow.¬† If he does, however, go for the shotgun. ¬† Mostly people are admonished to stay alert.¬† That is always good advice and it was good advice on Sunday when a night owl over in Champion East looked up to see a brown striped scorpion walking toward her across the clean wood floor!¬† She captured it and photographed it for the Champion News.¬† She said she had no idea that there were any of these things around here and had never seen one.¬† The University of Missouri extension office says that this is the only naturally occurring species of scorpion in Missouri.¬† Young scorpions are pale yellowish-brown, usually with two lengthwise dark stripes on the abdomen; older scorpions are uniform dark brown with the stripes faint or lacking.¬† This one is young.¬† It takes about four years to become adults and then they only live a couple more years.¬† A good piece of information about all scorpions is that they glow under iridescent light such as a black light.¬† The high tech night owl of Champion East probably has a couple of black lights hanging around so she can scan her floor if she gets worried.¬† Research informs that scorpions hide during the day and are active at night.¬† They eat soft-bodied prey such as spiders, ants, crickets, beetles and butterflies.¬† The Department of Conservation says that while these scorpions are usually found in drier habitats, they require moisture and may be attracted to moist areas.¬† They tend to live under boards, stones or other objects, or beneath loose bark on trees and logs.¬† They generally do not like extremely high temperatures and, during the summer, may enter the living areas of a home seeking relief from heat and dryness.¬† When they come indoors, they are most often found in crawl spaces and attics.¬† It may be that the unusual weather of recent months has the little critter confused.¬† He is very interesting, but not welcome.¬† Not welcome inside at all‚ÄĒneither scorpion nor bear.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Pete Proctor posts on Facebook that a 20-year old northwest Missouri man has died during fighting in Afghanistan.¬† The Department of Defense announced Sunday that Pvt. Jonathon Michael Dean Hostetter of Humphreys was killed Friday by an improvised explosive device.¬† He was a combat engineer who joined the Army in September 2012.¬† Also killed in the explosion was 23-year old Army Spc. Kenneth Clifford Alvarez of Santa Maria, California.¬† Both men were assigned to the 40th Mobility Augmentation Company, 2nd Engineer Battalion.¬† Pete is good to keep the U.S. Service personnel in the forefront to remind the community of the sacrifices people are willing to make for their Country.¬† His Champion friends appreciate his efforts and his own service.¬† For many reasons, including the noble purpose of preserving freedom and insuring the safety of the Nation, young people join the military.¬† A popular posting on social media has a young child asking his mother, ‚ÄúWhy do we have wars?‚ÄĚ¬† The mother answers, ‚ÄúBecause we are ruled by an elite group of psychopaths who own the banks that control the government and media.¬† They fund both sides of war for profit and they manufacture the consent of the public through the propaganda of the media.‚ÄĚ¬† The world is an increasingly dangerous place and for whatever the reasoning, Champion applaud those willing to protect and defend.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Pete will probably be at the Champion School Reunion on Saturday.¬† Friends are looking forward to seeing Ruby Proctor there with her sisters and children and dear friends. ¬† There will probably be a bunch of Browns, Cooleys, Sutherlands, Hutchisons, Wrinkles, Hensons, Andersons, Kriders, Upshaws and many others.¬† Hopes are that the weather will be cool and pleasant.¬† The big walnut trees have shaded this event for many years now.¬† It is sure to be an excellent gathering again.¬† There was some talk last year about people bringing their pictures to share.¬† Hopefully, some of that will happen and the debris in Fox Creek will doubtlessly spark memories of high water marks in the past.¬† The school house floor is dry again and there will be some who have not seen the nice steps and wheel chair ramp that have been added in recent years.¬† The water covered the new steps and reached the steps of the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square but it stayed high and dry.¬† It is delightful to be part of such a progressive community so dedicated to its wonderful past and so keenly alert to its excellent present.¬† Everyone is welcome to join in the fun at Champion‚ÄĒLooking on the Bright Side!

August 19, 2013

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Lawnmowers and weed-eaters have been working overtime in this post picnic dry spell.¬† Those willing to get up at a descent hour have been able to enjoy the ethereal beauty of mists rising from valley floors and fog hanging on hill tops.¬† Coming home from town in the early evening, viewing the familiar scenery in a new light, Champions are amazed at the verdant splendidness of the place they are fortunate enough to call home.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Ogden Nash was born on August 19, 1902.¬† He said, ‚ÄúChildren aren‚Äôt happy with nothing to ignore, and that‚Äôs what parents are created for.‚ÄĚ¬† It is sure that Eli and Emerson Rose Oglesby will not ignore the chance to sing happy birthday to their Mother this week on the 22nd and the 24th will be the birthday of their cousin, Dakota Watts, over in Tennessee.¬† Daniel Cohen up in Pennsylvania has his birthday on the 24th as well.¬† He spent some of his formative months/years in Champion where he learned to make an exceptional pineapple upside down cake and proved himself to be extraordinarily good company.¬† He teaches literature now in a private school in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and lives in the 200 year old house where he grew up all except for the wonderful time he spent in Champion.¬† People like their roots.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Thirty or so Upshaws celebrated their roots together with ice cream and family fun over in Upshaw (Swanky) Suites and Spa in the Villa at Vanzant. The General is said to have spun yarns and ice cream freezers and is accused of spinning the press as his picture seems so prominent in local papers.¬† Family members poured in from Marshfield, Champion, Alaska, Mountain Grove, Idaho and other places just as the rain was letting up.¬† Those from farthest afield were able to stay around for a few days to see things dry up (the General notwithstanding).¬† Darcy Cecil found a way to get the quilt she won at the Skyline picnic home to Boise and so all is well.¬† It makes for happy hearts when so much of a family cares enough about each other to spend time together in this fashion.¬† They are Champions all, even those with Denlow leanings.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Gardeners have an abundance of grass cuttings set aside now for garden mulch and just need to spend these early cool mornings weeding their rows.¬† More seasonable weather might bring on a resurgence of produce and though some things look a little worse for all the water, no one is complaining.¬† Linda‚Äôs Almanac says that the 22nd and 23rd will be good days for planting root crops, as will the 27th and 28th.¬† One old girl will be sure to get some turnips in the ground against the possibility of having Lem and Ned stop by late this fall.¬† These are a pair of roaming hillbilly boys who show up on occasion looking for hard work to do in exchange for a sack of turnips.¬† They like them raw or can tell you just how to go about making a turnip pie.¬† It is kind of like a pumpkin pie but without the pumpkin.¬† It is not a favorite of many around here which may be why one rarely hears about it, though it turns out there are 42 different turnip pie receipts on one internet site alone.¬† www.yummly.com/receipts/turnip-pie.¬† Who would have thought it?¬† While she sows her turnip seeds, the woman will think about how she would like the old chicken house cleaned up and the grapevine taken down out of the far yard trees and some big rocks moved out of the drive way.¬† Those boys only come by once in a blue moon, so she generally has a backlog of work lined out for them.¬† She might be surprised to know that August‚Äôs full moon on the 20-21st is considered to be a Blue Moon.¬† The seasonal definition for the term is the third of four full moons in a single season‚ÄĒa season being defined as the time period between a solstice and an equinox or vice versa.¬† (The popular definition is the second of two full moons in a single calendar month.)¬† She will be caught short of turnips if they show up this week.¬† Perhaps some immature parsnips would do, or perhaps some of the Kohlrabi that was up for bid at the silent auction at the picnic.¬† It is sure that if two stout young men with good attitudes show up looking for work, vegetables can be found to satisfy their fee.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Rebellious, non-progressive, tree hugging, eco-greenie, conservationist radicals are taking advantage of the prevailing conditions to catch up on their laundry as they string their non-electric, zero carbon foot-print, non-toxic, solar powered clothes drying apparatus from tree to tree.¬† It is an ancient technology as useful and efficient today as when Eve pinned the family fig leaves there on that first wash day.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† The Champion School Reunion is just around the corner.¬† It is expected that the crowd will be bigger than usual as school alumni return to verify that their wonderful old building has been reclaimed from the flood waters.¬† They will be delighted to see that big industrial floor drying fans were implemented to good effect.¬† The reunion comes on the Saturday before Labor Day every year and marks the beginning of the fall social season.¬† Soon Bud Hutchison‚Äôs Fall Trail Ride will be ambling through town and the West Plains Wagon Club will be traipsing through.¬† Those Pioneer Descendants will gather down at Yates to see what the flood wrought there.¬† The trail rides will be a little less interesting as the erstwhile barber who generally rides drag will be absent.¬† He has sold his horses and has plans to move to town.¬† His Champion friends might miss him if they saw more of him.¬† He has a guitar and the hairdo of a country music star.¬† He probably knows that old saw, ‚ÄúHow can I miss you if you won‚Äôt go away?‚ÄĚ¬† He has a choice piece of real estate and so chances are good that one of these days new neighbors will be getting acquainted with all the mysteries and magnificence of their new home and their beautiful neighborhood, while he settles into the conveniences of town living.¬† Change is good and Champions wish him well.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Pictures of the flood in Champion are on the website at www.championnews.us.¬† The broad inviting veranda is there high and dry and available for anyone to use as a platform for looking out over one of the world‚Äôs truly lovely places‚ÄĒChampion!¬† Looking on the Bright Side!

August 12, 2013

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Fox Creek left its banks and cut a wide, wet swath through Champion last Thursday leaving mud coats on trees and brush higher than Cowboy Jack could reach if he were sitting on his high horse!¬† Big round hay bales floated by from Denlow headed on down to 14 Highway and who knows where from there?¬† One lodged itself in the tidy little garden next to the Recreation of the Historic Emporium over on the North Side of the Square where bright sunflowers persisted above the deluge to wave happily in the sun that finally presented itself.¬† The water touched the steps of the store, but they remained dry.¬† The little church had six inches of water stacked up inside.¬† It may have been that deep in there when it flooded on Mother‚Äôs Day 2002, though the comparisons serve little purpose when it comes to wet carpets.¬† Gratitude still is the word of the day where comparisons are concerned.¬† Not too far away are a great number of people who have lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods.¬† Champions will not complain.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Norris Woods was up at the Skyline Picnic and said that he had had 22¬Ĺ inches of rain in fifteen days.¬† Several of those brave, good looking, friendly, helpful men who work for Leon Potter and this end of Douglas County made brief appearances at the picnic.¬† They say that there have been some people stranded because of the road conditions, but that everyone is being patient and understanding as they see the enormous amount of damage that has been done to the county roads.¬† Places are washed out that never have been before.¬† River Stillwood has a sign up looking for plans to build an ‚Äėark.‚Äô¬† Ronny Thompson and his co-worker were talking about how in the winter time¬† years ago the roadways would just dissolve under a car as the road thawed and it was not a matter of being stuck in the mud, but stuck in a hole.¬† ‚ÄúThere‚Äôs a hole in the bucket, Dear Liza.‚ÄĚ¬† There will always be plenty to do.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† ‚ÄúThe bear went over the mountain‚ÄĚ from one neighbor‚Äôs house to the next one.¬† The story was told that neighbor ladies ducked in their garage when they saw it and shut the door.¬† Fortunately, one of them had a cell phone and was able to call someone who came with a camera and a gun.¬† He took some good pictures they say and then fired the gun which caused the bear to leave.¬† The report was that the bear had pulled the garbage can off the deck and that on a previous occasion had attempted to take a bite out of the top of a barbeque grill.¬† It seems like the big fellow has found a home in the neighborhood.¬† Hopefully those good pictures will become available soon and Jerry Bennett, who lives up in Bluegrass, Iowa, will be able to put a face on the bear about which he reads and warns his Champion friends and family.¬† He knows how much his sweet Aunt Ruby Proctor loves Champion and so he is looking out for her at a distance.¬† McClures from Cincinnati, Iowa were sitting with Ruby at the picnic Saturday and were wishing Jerry could be there.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Jeffry Goss called from down in Stone County looking for information about Linda‚Äôs Almanac.¬† He would like to have some copies of it available for the September 27th meeting of the Christian Agricultural Stewardship Institute (CASI) which will be held at the Vanzant Community Building.¬† He says the meeting is free and that there will be speakers talking about farming in general and about the various ‚Äėfree energy‚Äô scams that are going on these days.¬† Activities will start at 10:00 a.m. and farmers are encouraged to bring dry ears of their various corn varieties for comparison.¬† There will also be tomato tasting and that is sure to bring some out who might ordinarily not go.¬† Goss was interested in finding out about the ‚ÄėMillionaire‚Äô tomato, saying that he had heard that a family named Henson in Champion had once had a tomato cannery and that the family had preserved this particular variety of tomato.¬† Anyone with information about that can share it at Champion Items, Rt.2 Box 367, Norwood, MO 65717 or at Champion at getgoin.net.¬† He mentioned the Harris Farmer‚Äôs Almanac.¬† He says it comes in a tan cover and is written by people in the area and oriented toward the Ozarks.¬† Linda‚Äôs Almanac is an amalgam of Ramon‚Äôs Brownie Calendar and Blum‚Äôs Almanac plus a few items of useful lore.¬† It comes out monthly and is available for perusal at Henson‚Äôs Grocery and Gas in Downtown Champion.¬† Mr. Goss had the presence of mind to ask upon which side of the Square the store might be located.¬† He does not use the internet so he cannot access the almanac at www.championnews.us as many, such as the Ava Garden Club, do.¬† Arrangements have been made to mail him a copy.¬† He will be pleased to know that the 17th and 18th will be good days for planting above-ground crops and that the 22nd and 23rd will be ideal for root crops. Linda contributed some lovely hanging baskets to the silent auction at the picnic.¬† Karen Griswold won one and Sherry Bennett won the other.¬† Karen works hard for the Skyline VFD year round and Sherry lent a welcome helping hand in getting the auction set up.¬† She is also quite a music lover and includes in her repertory ‚ÄúFive Pounds of Possum in My Headlights.‚ÄĚ

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Picnic music is always wonderful in these parts.¬† In the excitement of getting ready for the picnic a special birthday slipped by.¬† Kalyssa and Foster sang ‚ÄúHappy Birthday!‚ÄĚ to their dear old dad who was born August 8, 1968! ¬†The 12th of August is the birthday of Katharine Lee Bates who was born in 1859, and whose best known work, America the Beautiful, says, ‚ÄúO beautiful for spacious skies for amber waves of grain.‚ÄĚ¬† Again, all the picnic music was great, but Master of Ceremonies, Ray Bradley, did such an outstanding job with the National Anthem on both evenings that everyone is sure he has sung it many, many times.¬† He has those high notes down, with no strain and plenty of sustain.¬† What a guy!¬† He conducts the ceremonies, introduces the bands, gives away door prizes and makes announcements with such a nice dead-pan sense of humor, that a person forgets he used to be an undertaker!¬† When he calls the name of an absent person who must be present to win, he says, ‚ÄúDon‚Äôt say the guy is ‚Äėno longer with us‚Äô to an undertaker!‚ÄĚ¬† His Champion friends are glad that he has relocated back to the area.¬† He just couldn‚Äôt stay away.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† Darcy Cecil of Boise, Idaho had the winning ticket for the exquisite cross stitched quilt.¬† She‚Äôll have to get another suitcase to get it home on the plane.¬† She has but to notify the concierge at Chez Upshaw and one will appear.¬† She is part of the contingent of visitors from Idaho and Alaska who have come to soak up enough of their Ozark heritage to get them through for a while.¬† There are family reunions of the clan going on in various locations in the area and it would seem that rooms at The Upshaw Arms are quite commodious and the staff is ‚Äėadequate.‚Äô¬† The White River Valley Electric award of $100.00 of free power went to Judie Pennington who lives in bear territory up Tar Button Road.¬† The super weather radio that the Howell Oregon people donated was sold in auction to Kent Stamper, the Grinning Garbage Man, who in addition to his generous bid, generously helps with the cleanup after the picnic.¬† Other auction items included the diamond ring donated by Marjorie Carter at the Downtown Pawn Shop that wound up on the pretty finger of the lovely Darlene, placed there by the man who loves her.¬† They are a Champion couple and dedicated workers for the Skyline VFD.¬† Several people, new to the area, expressed an interest in participating in the auxiliary.¬† So things are changing, growing and getting better and a big ‚ÄúWelcome Neighbor‚Äô sign is vigorously implied.

¬†¬†¬† ¬†¬†¬† The next big order of business will be the Champion School Reunion.¬† That happens on the Saturday before Labor Day every year.¬† Hopes are that the weather will be accommodating by then and the old school house will be dry.¬† Feel welcome to sing, ‚ÄúOh! It ain‚Äôt a gonna rain no more no more, it ain‚Äôt a gonna rain no more!‚ÄĚ out on the spacious veranda of the Historic Emporium looking out over the beautiful flood plain that is Champion!‚ÄĒLooking on the Bright Side!

August 5, 2013

Champion rain gauges are full.¬† Rain barrels and stock ponds and tanks are full.¬† Sump pumps are emptying cellars.¬†¬†¬† On Monday morning some people are marooned.¬†¬† It is a pleasant set of circumstances to know the water table is rising.¬† The electric power in the country has been steady and if there are complaints no one is willing to voice them.¬† Rather, the talk is full of comparisons with last summer when the scant inch of rain that finally fell had Champions feeling that they had a reprieve.¬† It was as if they had been pardoned or had found amnesty or sanctuary from the heat and the oppressive prospect of no-end-in-sight to the brutality of summer.¬† Every dry spell in history has ended in a shower.¬† There was a question last year about whether Champions would remember the parched conditions prevailing then when the creeks were too deep to ford as they are this soggy Monday.¬†¬†¬† Yes.¬† Clever, resilient postal carriers develop alternate routes for the mail and all is well, if wet.

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Marilyn Alms emails that she is sending a check for quilt tickets, thinking that she may not be able to attend the Skyline Picnic, though she would like to.¬† She had sent an inquiry earlier about the picture she had seen in the paper.¬† She said, ‚ÄúRegardless of winning the quilt, I want to support the Skyline VFD.¬† These organizations are invaluable to our communities.¬† Where I work at Ava City Hall, I hear them on the scanner (and the other volunteers) responding to all sorts of need for help‚ÄĒfires, accidents, medical emergency.¬† I really admire the people who give their time and effort to these fire departments. ‚Äú¬†¬† From over in Wichita, Kansas Bonna Mullens also sent a check for quilt tickets with the focus really being on supporting the fire department that protects so many people she loves and cares about.

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Brian Haggerty was a delightful young man from Port Clinton, Ohio.¬† He grew up right on Lake Erie.¬† He was 23 when he died in an accident in 1976.¬† Brian seemed to have wisdom beyond his years.¬† He had a warm and generous smile a kindness about him that was most appealing.¬† His philosophy was, ‚ÄúSometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you.‚ÄĚ¬†¬† Nick and Judi over on Tar Button Road had a visit with a bear last Monday.¬† The big fellow walked right through their yard, right by the kitchen window and then on down the hill headed south east.¬† The Conservation agent said that since it did not have a tag or a collar, it might be new to the area, maybe just passing through.¬†¬† Nick and Judi live more than a mile from the pavement on the East, two miles on the South and to the North and West it is many miles to any kind of major roadway.¬†¬† Certainly the area is occupied, just not very densely by people and so there is room for bears.¬† It was just last year that Esther Wrinkles over on 95 Highway had a bear up a tree in her yard.¬† Wes and Pat Smith over in Near Champion West have seen bears in their blackberry patch and Taegan‚Äôs Grammie has, on more than one occasion,¬† seen bears at a distance on their considerable family land holdings in Champion.¬† Champions never tire of living on the edge of the wilderness where wild things flourish.¬† The Conservation agent says not to be afraid of the bears, just to make a lot of noise if you think one is near.¬† They also appreciate reports of sightings as they are charged with conserving and protecting wildlife.¬†

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The new normal for weather seems to be ‚Äėstrange.‚Äô¬† One old guy said that it would take another ice-age to get rid of the chiggers and the ticks from this part of the world.¬†¬† His friend replied that he considers them to be the first line of defense against land speculators, saying that without this built in deterrent even more big land grabbers would be coming to the Ozarks to buy up property and sell it at bloated prices to refugees from the coasts and deserts.¬† It has happened in other places where an influx of population caused municipalities, school districts, counties and other authorities to have to levee such magnified taxes that old timers could not afford to pay their assessments and were then in jeopardy of losing ancestral lands.¬† The ratio between ticks and chiggers and tax rates might be a study worthy of some hillbilly economics dissertation.¬†¬† Champions will leave it to the academics and for themselves will just enjoy the strange, cool, wet weather and scratch a little.

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Summer picnics and festivals tax local merchants who are set upon by representatives of every organization to contribute goods and services for the benefit of their various causes.¬† While the economy struggles, merchants still generously give.¬† It is not just good business; it is a key element to a strong community.¬† The area is about to be strengthened by an onslaught of Upshaws.¬† They are headed this way from Alaska and Idaho having timed their trip specifically to be able to attend the Skyline VFD Picnic.¬† The General will probably head up the welcoming committee and will perform bell-hop duties for Chateau Upshaw for the duration of the family visit.¬† Welcome!

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‚ÄúOh the night was dark and stormy; the air was full of sleet.¬† The old man stepped out in the yard, and his shoes were full of feet!‚ÄĚ¬† Meet up with your friends and neighbors over at the Skyline VFD Picnic on Friday and Saturday to sing the chorus.¬† Some of the best singers and happiest people at the picnic will be Champions‚ÄĒLooking on the Bright Side!